The summer may be officially winding down on Labor Day, but our work at the Freedom From Religion Foundation is not quite in synchronicity.
Our diligence as part of a coalition in getting a lawsuit expanded against an unconstitutional Ten Commandments law in Arkansas has received media coverage step by step.
“A federal judge Thursday evening ordered the Conway School District to remove Ten Commandments posters from classrooms and libraries, less than 24 hours after the district was added to a lawsuit challenging a state law requiring the displays,” reported the News From the States (a compendium of dispatches from around the country) yesterday. “The ACLU of Arkansas is representing the plaintiffs along with the national American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.”
When we filed our legal request earlier in the week, that, too, got media attention.
“Families suing four Northwest Arkansas school districts over a new state law requiring public displays of the Ten Commandments want to add the Conway School District as a defendant in their federal lawsuit, according to news releases from the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Freedom From Religion Foundation,” stated a story in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
S.C. news site publishes FFRF op-ed
FFRF State Policy Manager Ryan Dudley has had an op-ed published on a leading South Carolina news site asking for the repeal of a little-known state-level anti-blasphemy law. The piece in the South Carolina Daily Gazette concludes with a call to action, urging South Carolina to fight back against viewpoint censorship: “For South Carolina, the solution is clear. Repeal the state’s blasphemy law and bring its statutes in line with established Supreme Court precedent.”
Freethinking blog spotlights our brief
A prominent freethinking blog focused on our friend-of-the-court brief after a disheartening judgment in Minnesota.
“A federal judge has ruled that religious schools in Minnesota that require students to sign statements of faith are, in fact, eligible for a state-run reimbursement program meant to benefit high school students,” “Friendly Atheist” Hemant Mehta writes on his site. “The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed an amicus brief in the case urging the court to side with the state. (They were not directly involved in the case, but they had a vested interest in the outcome.) FFRF attorney Patrick Elliott made two key points in his brief.”
Read on to find out what those points are.
Our Supreme Court amicus brief pushes back against religious privileging
We filed another friend-of-the-court brief before the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to rule against a Colorado therapist in her challenge to a state law banning conversion therapy for minors.
“Let’s call it what it is — religious privileging,” commented Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “The courthouse door is being slammed shut in the face of those seeking to uphold the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, while religious entities and plaintiffs seeking to deny religious freedom to others are allowed entry. We urge the high court to ensure equal justice under the law.”
Our constitutional win in South Carolina
We effectively preserved South Carolina students’ First Amendment rights after a state representative touted Christianity in a letter included in a school district’s graduation materials. We emphasized the disrespect toward students coming from an elected official via this overtly religious letter. Our words of reason connected with the district. The school district superintendent confirmed via email that he had taken action regarding the issue.
State Department needs to protect Moroccan feminist
We’re calling on the State Department to press Morocco to immediately release feminist and human rights activist Ibtissame “Betty” Lachgar, drop blasphemy charges against her, and repeal its repressive blasphemy and apostasy laws. Lachgar, an atheist who works as a psychologist, was arrested after posting a photo of herself wearing a T-shirt that reads “Allah is lesbian.” She is accused of “insulting Islam,” while those who have threatened her with rape and death online remain free. “This stark double standard highlights the systemic discrimination, persecution and violence faced by dissidents in Morocco under the guise of ‘protecting religion,’” FFRF Co-President Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor have written to the State Department.
Proselytizing Calif. coaches need to stop
We have protested football coaches in California’s Monrovia Unified School District unconstitutionally pushing their religion onto student-athletes. A district parent reported that two Monrovia High School football coaches have regularly led student-athletes in prayers on the field before football games. “Public school coaches cannot constitutionally lead their teams in prayer or promote their personal religious beliefs to student-athletes,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence has written to the district.
We’ve awarded $17,950 to high school essay winners
We are proud to announce the disbursal of $17,950 in scholarship money to the winners of the 2025 William Schulz High School Essay Contest. College-bound high school seniors were asked to write a personal persuasive essay based on this prompt: “To do good is my religion. Write a first-person essay that asserts why ‘doing good’ is not dependent on religious belief.” FFRF awarded 11 top prizes and 10 honorable mentions. Congratulations to the winners! The winning essays are in your en route September issue of Freethought Today.
Star-spangled Jesus
Our Freethought Radio episode this week first emphasized how we are not retreating from our lawsuit challenging the Ten Commandments in Texas public schools, in spite of the Texas attorney general’s warning that he won’t back down from posting them. Co-Hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor then spoke with April Ajoy, author of the book “Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding A True Faith.”
Shady religious health care organizations
The new episode of our joint “We Dissent” podcast tackles the concerning rise of deceptive religious “health care” organizations. FFRF Deputy Legal Director Liz Cavell and Americans United Legal Director Rebecca Markert have as a special guest founder and principal of Secular Strategies Sarah Levin to talk about health care sharing ministries, a billion-dollar religious industry. You can listen to the edifying discussion here.
Arizona’s failed voucher program
Our legislative arm, the FFRF Action Fund, noticed a curious kerfuffle in the Grand Canyon State. Two GOP National Committee members are calling for the removal of the Arizona Republican Party chair partly because she properly criticized the state’s failed school voucher program. “School choice is, and always has been, a myth to siphon public money to unaccountable private, often religious, schools,” says FFRF Action Fund President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
‘Theocrat’ and ‘Secularist’ of the week
The FFRF Action Fund bestowed its “Secularist of the Week” award to U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler for reaffirming his commitment to the constitutional separation of state and church. He recently responded positively to a federal judge’s ruling in Texas halting the state’s Ten Commandments law. The Fund’s “Theocrat of the Week” is Adam Steen, former director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, for publicly labeling himself “the faith guy” and bragging about his discrimination against The Satanic Temple.
In celebration of women’s right to vote
Annie Laurie wrote a blog this week celebrating the 105th anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment — and the role of freethinking women in that struggle. She also warned of fanatics openly calling for denial of the vote to women.
“I visited just this past weekend the Matilda Joslyn Gage home and museum in Fayetteville, N.Y., in the Finger Lakes region, as part of our Upstate New York chapter’s annual meeting,” she writes. “The area was a hub of freethought, abolition, the Underground Railway and feminism. Gage was one-third of the magnificent triumvirate made up of herself, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony who co-edited the first three volumes of ‘The History of Woman Suffrage.””
Thoughts and prayers don’t cut it
FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line pens a moving blog on the recent school shooting in Minnesota.
“Our kids deserve more than platitudes,” he sadly concludes. “They deserve protection. And that requires courage, not prayers.”
We are constantly striving through our labors to ensure that we have more secular and rational policymaking on this and so many other issues. Have a wonderful Labor Day!
Our diligence as part of a coalition in getting a lawsuit expanded against an unconstitutional Ten Commandments law in Arkansas has received media coverage step by step.
“A federal judge Thursday evening ordered the Conway School District to remove Ten Commandments posters from classrooms and libraries, less than 24 hours after the district was added to a lawsuit challenging a state law requiring the displays,” reported the News From the States (a compendium of dispatches from around the country) yesterday. “The ACLU of Arkansas is representing the plaintiffs along with the national American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.”
When we filed our legal request earlier in the week, that, too, got media attention.
“Families suing four Northwest Arkansas school districts over a new state law requiring public displays of the Ten Commandments want to add the Conway School District as a defendant in their federal lawsuit, according to news releases from the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Freedom From Religion Foundation,” stated a story in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
S.C. news site publishes FFRF op-ed
FFRF State Policy Manager Ryan Dudley has had an op-ed published on a leading South Carolina news site asking for the repeal of a little-known state-level anti-blasphemy law. The piece in the South Carolina Daily Gazette concludes with a call to action, urging South Carolina to fight back against viewpoint censorship: “For South Carolina, the solution is clear. Repeal the state’s blasphemy law and bring its statutes in line with established Supreme Court precedent.”
Freethinking blog spotlights our brief
A prominent freethinking blog focused on our friend-of-the-court brief after a disheartening judgment in Minnesota.
“A federal judge has ruled that religious schools in Minnesota that require students to sign statements of faith are, in fact, eligible for a state-run reimbursement program meant to benefit high school students,” “Friendly Atheist” Hemant Mehta writes on his site. “The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed an amicus brief in the case urging the court to side with the state. (They were not directly involved in the case, but they had a vested interest in the outcome.) FFRF attorney Patrick Elliott made two key points in his brief.”
Read on to find out what those points are.
Our Supreme Court amicus brief pushes back against religious privileging
We filed another friend-of-the-court brief before the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to rule against a Colorado therapist in her challenge to a state law banning conversion therapy for minors.
“Let’s call it what it is — religious privileging,” commented Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “The courthouse door is being slammed shut in the face of those seeking to uphold the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, while religious entities and plaintiffs seeking to deny religious freedom to others are allowed entry. We urge the high court to ensure equal justice under the law.”
Our constitutional win in South Carolina
We effectively preserved South Carolina students’ First Amendment rights after a state representative touted Christianity in a letter included in a school district’s graduation materials. We emphasized the disrespect toward students coming from an elected official via this overtly religious letter. Our words of reason connected with the district. The school district superintendent confirmed via email that he had taken action regarding the issue.
State Department needs to protect Moroccan feminist
We’re calling on the State Department to press Morocco to immediately release feminist and human rights activist Ibtissame “Betty” Lachgar, drop blasphemy charges against her, and repeal its repressive blasphemy and apostasy laws. Lachgar, an atheist who works as a psychologist, was arrested after posting a photo of herself wearing a T-shirt that reads “Allah is lesbian.” She is accused of “insulting Islam,” while those who have threatened her with rape and death online remain free. “This stark double standard highlights the systemic discrimination, persecution and violence faced by dissidents in Morocco under the guise of ‘protecting religion,’” FFRF Co-President Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor have written to the State Department.
Proselytizing Calif. coaches need to stop
We have protested football coaches in California’s Monrovia Unified School District unconstitutionally pushing their religion onto student-athletes. A district parent reported that two Monrovia High School football coaches have regularly led student-athletes in prayers on the field before football games. “Public school coaches cannot constitutionally lead their teams in prayer or promote their personal religious beliefs to student-athletes,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence has written to the district.
We’ve awarded $17,950 to high school essay winners
We are proud to announce the disbursal of $17,950 in scholarship money to the winners of the 2025 William Schulz High School Essay Contest. College-bound high school seniors were asked to write a personal persuasive essay based on this prompt: “To do good is my religion. Write a first-person essay that asserts why ‘doing good’ is not dependent on religious belief.” FFRF awarded 11 top prizes and 10 honorable mentions. Congratulations to the winners! The winning essays are in your en route September issue of Freethought Today.
Star-spangled Jesus
Our Freethought Radio episode this week first emphasized how we are not retreating from our lawsuit challenging the Ten Commandments in Texas public schools, in spite of the Texas attorney general’s warning that he won’t back down from posting them. Co-Hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor then spoke with April Ajoy, author of the book “Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding A True Faith.”
Shady religious health care organizations
The new episode of our joint “We Dissent” podcast tackles the concerning rise of deceptive religious “health care” organizations. FFRF Deputy Legal Director Liz Cavell and Americans United Legal Director Rebecca Markert have as a special guest founder and principal of Secular Strategies Sarah Levin to talk about health care sharing ministries, a billion-dollar religious industry. You can listen to the edifying discussion here.
Arizona’s failed voucher program
Our legislative arm, the FFRF Action Fund, noticed a curious kerfuffle in the Grand Canyon State. Two GOP National Committee members are calling for the removal of the Arizona Republican Party chair partly because she properly criticized the state’s failed school voucher program. “School choice is, and always has been, a myth to siphon public money to unaccountable private, often religious, schools,” says FFRF Action Fund President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
‘Theocrat’ and ‘Secularist’ of the week
The FFRF Action Fund bestowed its “Secularist of the Week” award to U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler for reaffirming his commitment to the constitutional separation of state and church. He recently responded positively to a federal judge’s ruling in Texas halting the state’s Ten Commandments law. The Fund’s “Theocrat of the Week” is Adam Steen, former director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, for publicly labeling himself “the faith guy” and bragging about his discrimination against The Satanic Temple.
In celebration of women’s right to vote
Annie Laurie wrote a blog this week celebrating the 105th anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment — and the role of freethinking women in that struggle. She also warned of fanatics openly calling for denial of the vote to women.
“I visited just this past weekend the Matilda Joslyn Gage home and museum in Fayetteville, N.Y., in the Finger Lakes region, as part of our Upstate New York chapter’s annual meeting,” she writes. “The area was a hub of freethought, abolition, the Underground Railway and feminism. Gage was one-third of the magnificent triumvirate made up of herself, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony who co-edited the first three volumes of ‘The History of Woman Suffrage.””
Thoughts and prayers don’t cut it
FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line pens a moving blog on the recent school shooting in Minnesota.
“Our kids deserve more than platitudes,” he sadly concludes. “They deserve protection. And that requires courage, not prayers.”
We are constantly striving through our labors to ensure that we have more secular and rational policymaking on this and so many other issues. Have a wonderful Labor Day!
